Forecast

Warriors hope for boost in energy, enthusiasm

When Warriors head coach Mark Jackson woke up Friday morning, an image on his TV screen provided a clue to what might get his team off its recent teeter-totter between good and bad outings.

Before he could even rub the sleep from his eyes, Jackson saw Draymond Green catch a pass from Stephen Curry, pivot toward the lane, cock the ball behind his head and force in a one-handed dunk over elite defensive center Joakim Noah.

"Then I see (Green) running off the screen on SportsCenter with his mouth wide open, like he just made the play of the century," Jackson said. "You could just tell how his spirit, his approach, his mentality and his competitive nature gives us a chance every night."

After Green made the highlight reel play, he let out a wide-eyed yawp that might still be echoing - if the reaction hadn't given way to his infectious smile when he was greeted by his teammates.

And that's what Jackson is after. He wants his team to get back to playing freely and having fun - the characteristics that allowed the Warriors to overachieve last season.

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"We're pressing, we're worrying about this and worrying about that, but we're at our best when we're just having fun," Green said. "Of course, any time expectations rise, you're human. You're going to know it, and you're going to react to it. But no one expects more out of us than we expect out of us."

Before Thursday's comeback victory over Chicago, the Warriors had lost five of their past seven home games and were closer to missing the playoffs than hosting a first-round series.

They were pressing and playing tentatively when things weren't going right, and plodding along as though it was a given when things were going right.

"You don't have to showboat or taunt the other team, but you can enjoy yourself," Curry said. "My wife doesn't know much about basketball, but she's watched the past three games at home, and when I came home the other night (after losing to Charlotte), she was like, 'Are y'all all right?' When you looked at our faces, we were just down - at all points of the game. For her to say that, it was kind of telling. We've got to turn that around with our body language and our energy.

"For us, we've got to get back to having fun, man, enjoying the small victories. We've put so much pressure on ourselves and press so much when we're not performing the way we want to. We're not going to be front-runners, but we've got to enjoy the moment and have fun. When good things happen on the court, you smile, jump around and get that spunk back."

Injury update: Jackson said big men Andrew Bogut (shoulder inflammation), David Lee (sprained shoulder) and Jermaine O'Neal (wrist surgery) missed Friday's practice, but all are expected to travel with the team for Saturday's game. Lee has been ruled out, Bogut is questionable and O'Neal probable.

Long-range miss: Curry was selected to participate in the three-point contest during All-Star weekend, but shooting guard Klay Thompson was left out of the field, which includes Orlando's Arron Afflalo, Washington's Bradley Beal, San Antonio's Marco Belinelli, Brooklyn's Joe Johnson, Cleveland's Kyrie Irving, Portland's Damian Lillard and Minnesota's Kevin Love.

Thompson is second in the league with 147 made three-pointers and is shooting 41.2 percent from distance, which is tied for 18th in the NBA.

"I don't know who makes the decisions, but Klay Thompson is an incredible shooter - not just today, but all time," Jackson said. "Pick anybody on that list - except for Steph - and I'm taking Klay. I'll meet them in any alley, at any playground, on any court, and I'll bring Klay with me. I'm confident that he'll leave as the winner."

Saturday's game

Who: Warriors (30-20) at Suns (29-20)

Where: US Airways Arena, Phoenix

When: 6 p.m.

TV/Radio: CSNBA/680

Of note: The Warriors have won seven of their past eight meetings with Phoenix, but they've lost 29 of their past 35 games in the desert. ... The surprise team in the Western Conference, the Suns have lost two in a row after a five-game winning streak and have fallen a half-game behind the Warriors for sixth place. ... Phoenix leads the league in fastbreak points (18.6 per game), is tied for second in three-point makes (9.3) and is tied for fourth in bench scoring (37.7). ... Point guard Goran Dragic has scored at least 20 points in a career-best six straight games and is averaging 25.7 points on 60.7 percent field-goal shooting and 56.5 percent three-point shooting during the stretch.